On whether he’ll need to stay standing or take the fight to the
ground to beat Kampmann: “It’s a little bit of both. It’s a
little bit of maybe mixing it up, maybe just staying on the feet.
The way that I see myself winning is not really having just one
game plan. It’s going in there and trying to move freely, meaning
keeping your mind open, adapting second by second. Whenever I’m out
there, I don’t figure out anything but adapting moment by moment,
punch by punch.”

On whether ring rust will be a factor: “I really don’t
believe in that. When you train every day, it should be like you’re
training for a fight. I don’t believe in it just because in every
sport, you have to take a little bit of time off. Whenever you come
back, as long as you practiced and as long as you trained like
you’re training for a fight, that shouldn’t be a factor.”

On the improvements he’s made under striking coach Steven
Wright: “You don’t have to have that world-renowned coach. What
I believe in is, if you believe in who you’re with, if you trust
them with everything that you’ve got, that’s what it takes.”

On what Wright has helped him with specifically: “He
sharpened me up a little bit, made me where I could use more than
just two things, punches and kicks. Now I’m able to use knees and
stuff like that, which is always nice.”

On hot yoga and how it helps him: “Staying flexible and
getting flexible are very important to me because the more flexible
I get, it seems the stronger I get. The more that I can get my
muscles to relax and to loosen up, I feel like I’m getting stronger
and stronger and stronger and I’m not even lifting weights. Not
only that, but also yoga helps keep me injury-free. Not only that,
it can help your jiu-jitsu out. There’s a lot of things that yoga
can translate into mixed martial arts. I started doing it, I love
it, and I’m going to continue doing it.”

On his success in MMA: “I had never fought before in my
life. I knew that I could be a good competitor, but I did not think
that I could learn it as fast as I did.”

On his beard: “The goal is November 17. After November 17
it’s going to get shaved definitely because man, it’s been so hot
down here. … The beard will definitely come off and I’ll be
clean-shaved for at least a little bit.”

On whether people will recognize him without it: “My kids
don’t. Probably most people wouldn’t just because whenever I shave,
I look like I’m 18 years old. I look totally different.”